Chapter XLII ۞ Aaron ۞ Part I

Aaron Vaughn-Solomon's point of view

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THE REST OF MY DAY WASN'T GOOD AS I spend yesterday thinking of how I should have been more careful with such point, because if it happened to be true, she wouldn't react very kindly to it. But I didn't consider that at the moment, I only wanted to know if it was true or not because I was worried. Nevertheless that was careless of me and I fucked things up.

What frustrated me the most was that, by how she reacted to my question, it was clear that she indeed have some problems with it. That sounds insane to me because I never thought someone who appears so confident and intimidating such as Thays, could have any type of eating disorder. I had a friend back in college who suffered from it and that fucked her up not only physically but psychologically as well. And my awareness of that made me even more worried by that stubborn woman.

So, I woke up very early today and trained a bit just to release all the stress from my body, and after that I drank some chamomile tea and went to my office, to try taking her off of my mind and focus on work, even if I'm technically in the vacation (which I low key gave to myself).

When I was on my way there, listening to Louder Than Bombs by BTS, the song stopped as my phone that was connected to the car speaker rang, and when I saw Teodor's name, I accepted the call. "Bark." Yesterday I called them and told them about Thays, I mean, the fake version of our relationship.

"Still in a sour mood?" Of course, Daniel's with him.

"I'm not sour, dumbass!" Yes, I am.

"Is it because of your fight with your girlfriend? Is she still mad at you? Oh, dear, I always heard that Latin women have quite the temper," Teodor mocked and I rolled my eyes annoyed. "Try buying her flowers. Or chocolate. My sister always like that."

"Didn't you say she likes books? By her one!"

Hah, I'm already buying more than 200 books for her. I don't think that will help. "Don't bother. We'll be fine by the end of the day," I hope. "I'll just apologize. It was my mistake after all."

They both gasped.

"You? Apologizing?" Teodor sounded incredulous.

"You never apologizes, Aaron," while Daniel sounded worried. "Never. I'm genuinely scared."

Scoff, "Can you two stop? Ugh. I know. I am aware of my bad traits, okay? But if I don't, she won't do anything. Believe me, she's pretty much as stubborn as I am. And again, I'm the one who crossed the line and touched a point I shouldn't have. At least not as abruptly as I dad," sigh. "Don't worry about it. So, what do you two want so early in the morning?"

"Oh, yeah. It's just that we found something kind of crazy and we wanted to ask you about it," Teodor began.

"Do you know if your girlfriend is also a model?" Daniel asked. "As a photoshoot, and runaway model."

What? "Why?" Isn't she too short for that?

"You know I always was more addicted to fashion than the three of us, right? So, I always accompanied the model world. Be it the ones who are in photoshoots for luxury brands or on runaways," indeed Teodor was always more crazy for it than us, and both me and Daniel love fashion.

"Everyone knows that. So?"

"Have you ever heard of Ella Sasso, A?" Never. "No one knew that much info about her. She was young, Italian, and incredibly hot with a tan skin and long curls. The only thing she didn't really have was height, so she was always in 10 inches high heels to compensate for it. And she was outstanding at modeling. But rumors said that she never had the intention of making that her life career."

I blinked, still not seeing a clear connection. "And?"

He sighed, "Well, four years ago there was a scandal saying that the girl was hospitalized after a severe crisis of bulimia, and the people who leaked that said she had been going through that for years," an eating disorder?

A shiver ran down my spine, "Many models go through that because of the modeling industry, no?"

"Yes, but A," it was Daniel who spoke this time, "Ella disappeared after the scandal. Deleted all of her social medias, broke up with all her contracts, and disappeared. Four years ago. Didn't you say your girlfriend moved to New Zealand four years ago?" Okay, that's absurd.

"That's a coincidence!"

"But Aaron, she is identical to Ella Sasso. Like doppel-fucking-gangers. We compared Ella's photos to the ones you sent us of her with you in the mall. And A, they are like identical twins, even the height is similar." Teo insisted.

And so did Daniel. They were set on getting an answer for that. "Does she has two snakes tattooed on her cleavage?" What?

A memory of the girl in Victoria's secret saying she liked the snakes flooded my mind. I know she has a tattoo on her cleavage but don't know what it is, so it might actually be her. Clenching my teeth, I let out a sigh, "It's not her, okay? Forget that." If it is her, and she came to New Zealand to get away from it, I must let her kept it like that. "And don't mention anything about it when you meet her, got it?"

"But A…" I stopped Teo midsentence.

"Don't mention it. I'm serious!"

Dan clicked his tongue, "So, it's her!"

"It's not my place to confirm it or deny it. Don't talk about it with anyone else. Forget it. And thanks for coming to me first. Now, I have to go. Enjoy your time here, and don't forget that we'll be going to the island on Monday."

"What are you doing now?" Two asked.

"I'm driving to the office."

When he heard that, Dan sighed, "Don't overwork yourself, A. It's vacation time, you know what that means right? No work!"

"I'm a CEO, Dan. I never have a real vacation. Work always pop up. It's not the same as if I worked to someone else. My parents don't work anymore, so it's my duty to take care of it all. Plus my projects."

"You should be with your girlfriend. Trying to make it up with her," he mocked and Teo agreed at his side. "But it's not like your stubborn ass will hear us anyways."

"At least you know that!" Then I hang up, feeling anxious.

In no time I arrived at the company and went straight to my office, not talking with anyone. My mind bubbling with questions from what else she might be keeping it from me. As I arrived at the top floor, my secretary, Dorian Ashton, who's four years younger than me, and definitely didn't expect me to come today, got up abruptly and followed me inside my office, closing the door behind him.

"Mr. Vaughn-Solomon," the kid gasped. "Weren't you supposed to be on vacation, sir?"

"Ashton," I sat down and looked at him. "Have you ever heard of Ella Sasso?"

He blinked, "Ella Sasso? The model?" So, he knows?

"Yes, the model," I pointed to the chair and he sat down on it. "So, so you know her?"

"I do, sir. My girlfriend is a fashion student and always talks about this model and how her disappearance was mysterious. She low key into conspiracy theories too, so," I glared at him and he gulped. "But that's all I know about her, sir!"

Pressing my lips together, I analyzed the kid, "You have a high IQ, don't you, Ashton?"

He blushed, "Yes, sir."

"Then search everything you can find about Ella Sasso. Everything. If you can complete this task until 1 pm, I'll give you a raise. What do you think?" By how his eyes glowed, he seemed to enjoy the challenge and the reward. "You have hacking skills, don't you? That's why I chose you out of all the others to be my right hand here."

"I'll do my best, sir," he jumped excitedly. "Better yet. By 12 pm, everything will be done."